{"id":1263,"date":"2012-10-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-10-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ati.local\/?p=1263"},"modified":"2024-12-17T17:33:19","modified_gmt":"2024-12-17T17:33:19","slug":"atis-biggest-fan-is-our-hero","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.atipt.com\/atis-biggest-fan-is-our-hero\/","title":{"rendered":"ATI\u2019s Biggest Fan is Our Hero!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Tom\u2019s\u00a0<em>Get There\u00a0<\/em>story<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If you ask anyone at the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.atipt.com\/node\/975\">ATI Winfield Clinic\u00a0<\/a>if they know \u201cTom\u201d the answer would certainly be \u201cYes!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Over the past five years, Tom Girdler has been a welcome fixture at ATI Winfield; a patient during four shoulder surgeries, a graduate of ATI\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.atipt.com\/node\/22\">F.I.R.S.T.\u2122\u00a0<\/a>program, a member of the Step Down Program*, a patient following a knee replacement in 2011, and a patient again after his second knee replacement in February of this year.<\/p>\n<p>Oh, did we also mention that 71-year-old Tom is a Vietnam Veteran wounded in action, a retired professional tennis player, a marathon and long distance runner, a triathlete, a poet and a tennis pro?<\/p>\n<p><em>WHOA!<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u201cTom is a hero!\u201d says Matt Allen, clinic director at Winfield. \u201cHe always gives 100% effort with his therapy, but what is most admirable is the genuine concern he has for other patients. He is sympathetic to the plights of others, but at the same time, encourages and motivates them to maximize their outcomes with therapy. Tom makes an effort to ensure everyone else feels special and important, despite the fact most of us could not begin to imagine what he has endured.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Back to Action<\/h2>\n<p>\u201cAfter my first therapist Tony got me through my shoulder surgeries and rehab, I really never left ATI,\u201d says Tom. \u201cATI got me back to work and to coaching, and I stayed in shape with the Step Down Program. When it was time for my knee replacements, there was no question that I would do my rehab at ATI.\u201d<br \/>\nFollowing Tom\u2019s most recent surgeries, the most important thing for him was to get active again, especially for his \u201ckids.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI played professional tennis when I was younger, and I\u2019m now a tennis pro. I consider all of my students my \u201ckids\u201d and I wanted to get back to teaching and coaching them as soon as possible. ATI got me back on the court, and back with my students.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Tom currently coaches high-level tennis players from St. Charles, Geneva and Kaneland High Schools. He\u2019s had players qualify for state, had two boys participate in the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.daviscup.com\/en\/home.aspx\">Davis Cup<\/a>\u00a0in the Bahamas, and is looking forward to the future of his current \u201c12-year-old tennis prodigy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And, although Tom admits his marathon and triathlon days are over, he is looking at other ways to put his new knees to the test. \u201cI am hoping to start paddle boarding, get back to snow skiing, plus I have an aspiration to climb Mount Kilimanjaro.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>ATI\u2019s Biggest Fan!<\/h2>\n<p>If his coaching abilities and mountainous aspirations aren\u2019t enough, Tom also has an artistic side. After submitting a poem about his experience at ATI (to the tune of The Beverly Hillbillies) he was crowned a winner of ATI\u2019s recent \u201cBiggest Fan Frenzy\u201d contest.<\/p>\n<p><em>Want to tell you a story about a guy named Tom,<\/em><br \/>\n<em>He came to ATI looking like he was hit by a bomb.<\/em><br \/>\n<em>He started with Tony, who is now a big wheel,<\/em><br \/>\n<em>Working on his shoulder until it healed.<\/em><br \/>\n<em>Then it was on to both knees, that had to be replaced,<\/em><br \/>\n<em>And was treated by Julia and Lindsay at the Winfield place.<\/em><br \/>\n<em>Through all of the pain and the recovery at last,<\/em><br \/>\n<em>Everyone at ATI made his experience a blast!<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Tom says \u201cI love ATI, and I love my therapists.\u00a0 They\u2019re all my buddies!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Well, Tom . . . the feeling is mutual!<\/p>\n<p><em>*The Step Down Program allows discharged patients to use the equipment at ATI clinics for a monthly fee to they can maintain their recovery and home exercise programs.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tom\u2019s\u00a0Get There\u00a0story If you ask anyone at the\u00a0ATI Winfield Clinic\u00a0if they know \u201cTom\u201d the answer would certainly be \u201cYes!\u201d Over [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>ATI\u2019s Biggest Fan is Our Hero! | ATI<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Tom\u2019s Get There storyIf you ask anyone at the ATI Winfield Clinic if they know \u201cTom\u201d the answer would certainly be \u201cYes!\u201dOver the past five years, Tom Girdler has been a welcome fixture at ATI Winfield; a patient during four shoulder surgeries, a graduate of ATI\u2019s F.I.R.S.T.\u2122 program, a member of the Step Down Program*, a patient following a knee replacement in 2011, and a\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.atipt.com\/atis-biggest-fan-is-our-hero\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"ATI\u2019s Biggest Fan is Our Hero! | ATI\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Tom\u2019s Get There storyIf you ask anyone at the ATI Winfield Clinic if they know \u201cTom\u201d the answer would certainly be \u201cYes!\u201dOver the past five years, Tom Girdler has been a welcome fixture at ATI Winfield; a patient during four shoulder surgeries, a graduate of ATI\u2019s F.I.R.S.T.\u2122 program, a member of the Step Down Program*, a patient following a knee replacement in 2011, and a\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.atipt.com\/atis-biggest-fan-is-our-hero\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ATI\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ATIPhysicalTherapy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-10-01T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-12-17T17:33:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"abbymccallsmith\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@atipt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@atipt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"abbymccallsmith\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.atipt.com\\\/atis-biggest-fan-is-our-hero\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.atipt.com\\\/atis-biggest-fan-is-our-hero\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"abbymccallsmith\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.atipt.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e2e6098ef9dcfe7041d906350eb43d21\"},\"headline\":\"ATI\u2019s Biggest Fan is Our Hero!\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-10-01T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-12-17T17:33:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.atipt.com\\\/atis-biggest-fan-is-our-hero\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":611,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.atipt.com\\\/#organization\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.atipt.com\\\/atis-biggest-fan-is-our-hero\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.atipt.com\\\/atis-biggest-fan-is-our-hero\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.atipt.com\\\/atis-biggest-fan-is-our-hero\\\/\",\"name\":\"ATI\u2019s Biggest Fan is Our Hero! | ATI\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.atipt.com\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-10-01T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-12-17T17:33:19+00:00\",\"description\":\"Tom\u2019s Get There storyIf you ask anyone at the ATI Winfield Clinic if they know \u201cTom\u201d the answer would certainly be \u201cYes!\u201dOver the past five years, Tom Girdler has been a welcome fixture at ATI Winfield; a patient during four shoulder surgeries, a graduate of ATI\u2019s F.I.R.S.T.\u2122 program, a member of the Step Down Program*, a patient following a knee replacement in 2011, and a\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.atipt.com\\\/atis-biggest-fan-is-our-hero\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.atipt.com\\\/atis-biggest-fan-is-our-hero\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.atipt.com\\\/atis-biggest-fan-is-our-hero\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.atipt.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"ATI\u2019s Biggest Fan is Our Hero!\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.atipt.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.atipt.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"ATI Physical Therapy\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.atipt.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.atipt.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.atipt.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"ATI Physical Therapy\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.atipt.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.atipt.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.atipt.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/10\\\/f0cadca461d9dbc05695542ca656dbf4.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.atipt.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/10\\\/f0cadca461d9dbc05695542ca656dbf4.png\",\"width\":2236,\"height\":630,\"caption\":\"ATI Physical Therapy\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.atipt.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/ATIPhysicalTherapy\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/atipt\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.atipt.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e2e6098ef9dcfe7041d906350eb43d21\",\"name\":\"abbymccallsmith\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/fd1b5f79e595c30719abf3aa478d2be6177e0dfa24a0db6373f80746b34979b2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/fd1b5f79e595c30719abf3aa478d2be6177e0dfa24a0db6373f80746b34979b2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/fd1b5f79e595c30719abf3aa478d2be6177e0dfa24a0db6373f80746b34979b2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"abbymccallsmith\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.atipt.com\\\/author\\\/abbymccallsmith\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"ATI\u2019s Biggest Fan is Our Hero! | ATI","description":"Tom\u2019s Get There storyIf you ask anyone at the ATI Winfield Clinic if they know \u201cTom\u201d the answer would certainly be \u201cYes!\u201dOver the past five years, Tom Girdler has been a welcome fixture at ATI Winfield; a patient during four shoulder surgeries, a graduate of ATI\u2019s F.I.R.S.T.\u2122 program, a member of the Step Down Program*, a patient following a knee replacement in 2011, and a","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.atipt.com\/atis-biggest-fan-is-our-hero\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"ATI\u2019s Biggest Fan is Our Hero! | ATI","og_description":"Tom\u2019s Get There storyIf you ask anyone at the ATI Winfield Clinic if they know \u201cTom\u201d the answer would certainly be \u201cYes!\u201dOver the past five years, Tom Girdler has been a welcome fixture at ATI Winfield; a patient during four shoulder surgeries, a graduate of ATI\u2019s F.I.R.S.T.\u2122 program, a member of the Step Down Program*, a patient following a knee replacement in 2011, and a","og_url":"https:\/\/www.atipt.com\/atis-biggest-fan-is-our-hero\/","og_site_name":"ATI","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ATIPhysicalTherapy\/","article_published_time":"2012-10-01T00:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-12-17T17:33:19+00:00","author":"abbymccallsmith","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@atipt","twitter_site":"@atipt","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"abbymccallsmith","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.atipt.com\/atis-biggest-fan-is-our-hero\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.atipt.com\/atis-biggest-fan-is-our-hero\/"},"author":{"name":"abbymccallsmith","@id":"https:\/\/www.atipt.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e2e6098ef9dcfe7041d906350eb43d21"},"headline":"ATI\u2019s Biggest Fan is Our Hero!","datePublished":"2012-10-01T00:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2024-12-17T17:33:19+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.atipt.com\/atis-biggest-fan-is-our-hero\/"},"wordCount":611,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.atipt.com\/#organization"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.atipt.com\/atis-biggest-fan-is-our-hero\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.atipt.com\/atis-biggest-fan-is-our-hero\/","url":"https:\/\/www.atipt.com\/atis-biggest-fan-is-our-hero\/","name":"ATI\u2019s Biggest Fan is Our Hero! | ATI","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.atipt.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-10-01T00:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2024-12-17T17:33:19+00:00","description":"Tom\u2019s Get There storyIf you ask anyone at the ATI Winfield Clinic if they know \u201cTom\u201d the answer would certainly be \u201cYes!\u201dOver the past five years, Tom Girdler has been a welcome fixture at ATI Winfield; a patient during four shoulder surgeries, a graduate of ATI\u2019s F.I.R.S.T.\u2122 program, a member of the Step Down Program*, a patient following a knee replacement in 2011, and a","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.atipt.com\/atis-biggest-fan-is-our-hero\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.atipt.com\/atis-biggest-fan-is-our-hero\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.atipt.com\/atis-biggest-fan-is-our-hero\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.atipt.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"ATI\u2019s Biggest Fan is Our Hero!"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.atipt.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.atipt.com\/","name":"ATI Physical Therapy","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.atipt.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.atipt.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.atipt.com\/#organization","name":"ATI Physical Therapy","url":"https:\/\/www.atipt.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.atipt.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.atipt.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/f0cadca461d9dbc05695542ca656dbf4.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.atipt.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/f0cadca461d9dbc05695542ca656dbf4.png","width":2236,"height":630,"caption":"ATI Physical Therapy"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.atipt.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ATIPhysicalTherapy\/","https:\/\/x.com\/atipt"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.atipt.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e2e6098ef9dcfe7041d906350eb43d21","name":"abbymccallsmith","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fd1b5f79e595c30719abf3aa478d2be6177e0dfa24a0db6373f80746b34979b2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fd1b5f79e595c30719abf3aa478d2be6177e0dfa24a0db6373f80746b34979b2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fd1b5f79e595c30719abf3aa478d2be6177e0dfa24a0db6373f80746b34979b2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"abbymccallsmith"},"url":"https:\/\/www.atipt.com\/author\/abbymccallsmith\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.atipt.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.atipt.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.atipt.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.atipt.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.atipt.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1263"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.atipt.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1263\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3388,"href":"https:\/\/www.atipt.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1263\/revisions\/3388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.atipt.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.atipt.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.atipt.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}